One of my repeat offender street spammers has resorted to placing a goo type substance on the back of their illegal signs. I assume this is some sort of revenge for me sharking their unsightly mess. They fooled me the first time and I got this "goo" all over my hands but know better from now on. This is my second encounter with booby trapped signs and I was wondering if anyone else has ever experienced tactics like this ?

Jaws

Funny you mention it. Just recently came across the same type substance on a piece of carboard sign. It suprised me too the first time. For one, I never seen the sign before but it was for a landscape business.

The first encounter I had my gloves on. A little further down the road I was getting ready to grab the same sign and caugt myself. It had the same goo. Thats all I ever seen of those signs. They were made up with some paper graphics too, glued on. In the last month or so or anytime before that, never seen the company sign.

For a sign I never see, and one made real cheap, I thought these guys must do alot of other spammin, to resort to this tatic. I chucked it in the trunk and moved on down the road jack.

Las Vegas

wevl

Last time I ran into a booby trap the spammer placed barbed wire along the bottom of the wire frame that supports the sign. Law enforcement may not want to deal with illegal signs but causing someone bodily injury is a different story. If I ever find this again, before I call the cops, I'll make a call to my local media outlets on a slow news day and see if they're interested in a story.

Jaws

Yes, do involve the media, police, and Code Enforcement.

I once heard about a sign coated with axle grease. Big deal - it didn't see the light of day.

I've encountered this with some local "artists" who put up wooden signs that say "think that you might be wrong." They use large bolts and fasteners, and apply a rubbery glueish substance to make it harder to unscrew the fasteners. Instead of taking a minute, it takes several minutes, but with the right tools I can still get them off.

I learned 15 years ago to NOT grab the bottom of a sign to lift it .....







I've seen that black goo pruning seal, other stuff like grease, Pepper Spray, nails, sharpened points of staples bent out, pins, razor blades..... We have a method for pulling signs and look at them, not to read them, but to see the dangers.

I will leave the discussion of what I do to the empty homes of someone who does this sort of thing to a later date....